Paper dealing with the social evils of UK society as experienced by people whose voices are not usually heard. Workshops/discussion groups with lone parents, ex-offenders, unemployed and other vulnerable and socially excluded people were used to explore personal experiences of living and coping with social evils. Ideas for overcoming them suggest a combined individual and collective responsibility to take forward social change.
This research shows what effect policies introduced since 1997 have had on reducing poverty and inequality. It offers a considered assessment of impacts over a decade. The study covers a range of subjects, including public attitudes to poverty and inequality, children and early years, education, health, employment, pensions, and migrants. It measures the extent of progress and also considers future direction and pressures, particularly in the light of recession and an ageing society.
Paper reviewing the concerns which caused the UK Labour Government to pledge to end child poverty within a generation in 1997 and summarising and analysing the welfare reform strategy devised to achieve this goal.
Document laying out the Scottish Executive's strategy for responding to and planning for an ageing population in Scotland. The strategy covers topics such as the role of public services, increased opportunities for older people, better intergenerational relationships, improving health and providing lifelong learning opportunities.
Being poor in the United Kingdom can mean being subjected to discrimination on the grounds of poverty. Both poverty and discrimination are contrary to the spirit and the terms of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Damian Killeen argues that the refusal of successive governments to incorporate the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights into UK law has compounded common social attitudes that denigrate people who experience poverty and that undermine popular support for policies to eradicate poverty.
Public support is needed to ensure that the government and other organisations take action to tackle poverty in the UK. The perception of poverty is often misguided, with people believing that it is a result of laziness, or an inevitable part of modern life.
The aim of this research is to identify ways of changing such perceptions and building public support for addressing the problem.
Public understanding of poverty in the UK is limited. The media can give people with experience of poverty the opportunity to present their views, experiences and opinions, which can help to inform and create a groundswell of public opinion supporting efforts to tackle poverty. This study examines how people with direct experience of poverty in the UK can have a more effective voice in the media. Presentation of their views and experiences through media channels and help to shape and develop public opinion and build support for action to combat poverty.
This report examines the costs of child poverty to individuals and wider society, through reduced productivity, lower educational attainment and poor health. It explores the financial consequences of child poverty for individuals, families, neighbourhoods and society.
This wide-ranging review of the literature, by Lucinda Platt at the University of Essex, summarises the findings of poverty and ethnicity research since 1991. It describes differences in poverty rates and experiences by ethnic group.
The moral case for eradicating child poverty rests on the immense human cost of allowing children to grow up suffering physical and psychological deprivations and unable to participate fully in society. But child poverty is also costly to everyone in Britain, not just those who experience it directly. What are the costs to the whole of society of allowing child poverty to continue?